The WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer now says coffee is unlikely to cause cancer, unless it’s very hot (150 degrees, or almost too hot to drink).

Published: June 17, 2016 | Updated: September 19, 2024

Coffee drinkers and lovers take heart. Our beloved potion with its heavenly aroma and seemingly magical powers to calm us down or pick us up has been vindicated. Well, kind of.

In 1991, the World Health Organization (WHO) said coffee might cause cancer, but that finding was based on studies that provided “limited evidence.”

The WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer now says coffee is unlikely to cause cancer, unless it’s very hot (150 degrees, or almost too hot to drink). Moreover, according to the latest information, drinking coffee may in fact reduce the risk for some cancers.

Is this yet another confusing case of, “First they say it’s bad, now they say it’s good, so what should I believe?”

Joseph Flynn, D.O., executive director and physician-in-chief for Norton Cancer Institute, helps put in context why it may seem like experts sometimes change their thinking about what might be good or bad for your health.

“Knowledge is as fluid as a pot of steaming coffee, especially when it comes to cancer knowledge,” Dr. Flynn said. “Thanks to ongoing research, what we know about cancer is constantly changing. Our job is to create and understand new information we can put to work in the mission to cure cancer and ease suffering.”